The Poetry Forms Series: How to Write a Villanelle

What is a Villanelle?

Like the classic star quilt pattern, a villanelle has a strict form, one that poets love to monkey with, but before you can mess with it, you need to understand what it is. In short, the villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with six stanzas: five tercets (three-line stanzas) and one ending quatrain (four-line stanza). The villanelle uses two refrains and a strict rhyme scheme, as described below.

Villanelle Features

While the form of the villanelle is quite structured, the villanelle has no prescribed meter, rhythm, or theme (although villanelles were originally pastorals and have become vehicles for deeply emotional explorations).

Here are the specifics:

• Five tercets

• One closing quatrain

• The first and third lines of the first stanza are the refrains (lines repeated throughout the poem).

• The first line of the first stanza is the last line of the second and fourth stanzas. This is the first refrain.

• The third line of the first stanza is the last line of the third and fifth stanzas. This is the second refrain.

• The sixth stanza (the quatrain) ends with the two refrains (they are the last two lines of the poem).

• The rhyme scheme for the tercets is ABA.

• The rhyme scheme for the quatrain is ABAA.

Are you completely confused? It's a lot to take in when simply described, but it makes more sense when you see it in action. Let’s look at a classic villanelle by Dylan Thomas.

The refrains are noted on the right side. The rhyme scheme is listed down the left side.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

A  Do not go gentle into that good night, [first refrain]

B  Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

A  Rage, rage against the dying of the light. [second refrain]

A  Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

B  Because their words had forked no lightning they

A  Do not go gentle into that good night. [first refrain]

A  Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

B  Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

A  Rage, rage against the dying of the light. [second refrain]

A  Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

B  And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

A  Do not go gentle into that good night. [first refrain]

A  Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

B  Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,   

A  Rage, rage against the dying of the light. [second refrain]

A  And you, my father, there on the sad height,

B  Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

A  Do not go gentle into that good night. [first refrain]

A  Rage, rage against the dying of the light. [second refrain]

Thomas’s poem is written in iambic pentameter, but as noted above, meter is not required.

Tips for Creating Villanelles

The villanelle has such a strict (albeit easily altered) form that you can get lost in the particulars and forget that a really good villanelle doesn’t necessarily read like one. A great villanelle allows you to get immersed in the content despite the form.

Make Music

While villanelles don’t require a specific meter or rhythm, the repeating refrains add the kind of inherent rhythm that we’re used to encountering in songs. But the musical component isn’t just about the rhythm of the words themselves.

The trick to making this rhythm as effective as possible is giving the refrains a special relationship to the words around them, a unique feel each time they are used.

For example, in Thomas’s poem, the first appearance of “do not go gentle into that good night” reads as a statement, a complete thought. But when that line reappears in stanza two, it reads, appropriately, like the completion of a thought, the end of the sentence started on the previous line. This adjustment allows the refrain to read at a different cadence with different emphasis on the words, creating a new, yet familiar rhythm. It’s subtle but effective.

Vary the Context

Consider this lovely wisdom from thewriters.com: “The most evocative part of a villanelle poem is, typically, the repeating refrains. As each refrain is re-employed in the poem, the lines adjacent to each refrain give the words new meaning, making the poem multifaceted and gleaming—a gemstone in the light.”

To most effectively use the refrains, their meaning should shift, if only slightly, to fit the context of each stanza. Of course, you don’t have to do that. The refrains can mean the exact same thing every time. But you’re going to engage and captivate readers much more if each occurrence of the refrains offers something a little bit new. In this way, the poem can evolve as it goes while staying familiar and grounded in the original context from the first stanza.

Master the Form

Next we’re going to talk about breaking the form, but if you start out that way, it’s just cheating. Mastering the form means learning how to use the strict structure effectively, challenging yourself to find the nuances within the form. Think about it: What’s harder? Altering the form to fit your needs, or finding the words that explore your theme, entice readers, and evoke emotions while following the form?

So master it before you monkey with it. It’s like learning the laws of aerodynamics before you try to fly.

Mix It Up

Just like quilters can distinguish themselves by making classic patterns unique, finding ways to alter the form of the villanelle while still adhering to the basic structure can set your poem apart and, in some cases, further the theme of the poem. How? Well, a break from form can add discord and amplify conflict or strife within the poem. Also, an evolving refrain can symbolize the evolution of the subject. Similarly, imagine if one refrain changes throughout the poem and the other refrain doesn’t. What might that mean? You can also introduce irony, humor, or sarcasm that interrupts the flow of the poem by breaking the repetition or the rhyme scheme.

Of course, you can also modify the form simply to make it your own. Consider “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, in which, for the second refrain, she merely repeats the last word (disaster) instead of the full line. (Only the first stanza and second refrains are included here. Click the link to read the full poem.)

One Art

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

…to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

…I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

…though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Make a Plan

Here are a few practical tips for crafting a villanelle.

• Choose a subject that can evolve throughout the poem. The villanelle isn’t tailor-made for describing a static object, like a rose. The villanelle evolved from dance-songs from the Renaissance, so it really wants movement. So don’t just write about how pretty a rose is. Write about how that rose transforms or how it affects the person who receives it (i.e., give the rose movement).

• Choose your refrains up front, but don’t be surprised if they change before you’re done. You may find that the refrains you start with don’t work in every stanza. Now, you could simply alter them to fit, or you can wait until you feel good about the stanzas in general, then nuance your refrains until you find wording that can be repeated effectively from stanza to stanza.

• Pick easy rhymes. Remember that you need six B rhymes and a whopping thirteen A rhymes. Notice how Elizabeth Bishop chose “master” for her A rhyme? How many words rhyme with that? If you read the full poem, you’ll see that Bishop also used “fluster” and “gesture,” which aren’t great rhymes to “master,” but she really didn’t have many other options.

Your Challenge

Write a villanelle that follows the rules to the letter. To the letter! Experiment with phrasing around the refrains that helps them blend into the poem naturally instead of standing out and holding a giant sign that says “YOU READ ME ALREADY!” While the repetition is a critical part of the villanelle, it doesn’t have to feel repetitive.

Then experiment with breaking the form. Have fun, but don’t go overboard. Respect the form as you’re breaking it, because if you just blow it apart, what’s the point of calling it a villanelle? ;)